Tracking The Second Great Depression

So far, the collapse of the world economy
since April 2008 has been worse than the collapse in the Great
Depression. One glance at the fall world output, trade, and
stock prices puts the recent "green shoots" in perspective.

The government policy response to the collapse, however, has been
much more aggressive. Thus, we will soon collectively learn
whether the economic historians are right that the original Great
Depression was caused by "policy errors" after the collapse...or
whether, as some suspect, there is simply no way to avoid
catastrophe after a financial bubble the size of the one we just
had.

Professors Barry Eichengreen (Berkeley) and Kevin O'Rourke
(Trinity) have updated their series of charts that compare the
progress of this "Depression event", as they're calling it, with
the Great Depression. The originals and a more detailed
write-up can be found here, at
Vox. We've arranged them into a quick slideshow below.